Payroll Services

Payroll System

Payroll in Australia: The State of Play

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The Australian payroll industry is constantly changing. That is why Australian Payroll Association (APA) was established in 2010, to keep employers up to date on the best practices in the payroll industry.

As CEO of APA, it is my great pleasure to be sharing tips in this monthly column. I have spent more than 20 years assisting employers to have the most efficient and compliant payroll operations possible. Over the coming months, I will explain common problems and solutions that payroll teams face.

While payroll is an important function within organisations, it is continually regarded as a rigid and unchangeable back office administrative process. However, there are huge savings to be made if organisations simply streamlined their payroll processes in line with industry benchmarks, assisted by payroll technology.

The 2016 Australian Payroll Association Payroll Benchmarking Study found that top performers in all employer sized delivered payroll between 37% and 55% of the average. Cost included in this study were payroll salary costs, technology costs and all other costs of running a payroll operation, reported as a total cost per payslip.

What does payroll really cost?

Category

Average

Top Performers

50-200 employees

$19.56

$10.82

201-500 employees

$15.06

$5.58

501-2,000 employees

$9.74

$4.48

2,001-10,000 employees

$7.43

$2.89

10,000+ employees

$5.98

$2.535

Source: APA 2015 Payroll Benchmarking Survey

As we know, each industry is different and brings with it a different set of challenges. To further help businesses devise tailored and executable changes in their payroll functions, APA has formed a formal alliance with PwC to deliver specialist payroll consulting for Australian employers. One thing is for certain, a best practice payroll function becomes an important asset to any organisation and has a tangible effect on the bottom line.